The Human Rights Defenders Coalition has asked the Tonse Govt to reverse it’s recent decision of hiking fuel price saying it will affect the lives of Malawians as they arleady struggling with the coming of Covid-19 pandemic.
Speaking during a press briefing on Sunday 20 December,2020, in Lilongwe HRDC Chairperson Gift Trapence said now it is not a good time to raise fuel price because a lot of Malawians are still struggling and it will be difficult for them to survive with the rise of fuel.
“As HRDC we are saying this decision must be reversed because it has come at a time the country is struggling with the effects of Covid-19 and that is why we are saying they should review the prices. I think it will be up to the board to see how they can solve this but 28 percent fuel hike it will affect a lot of Malawians because we arleady struggling as a country that is why we are demanding that”,said Trapence.
He also added that Malawians are not happy with the state of affairs as of now and the government is failing to furfill some promises it made during campaign.
“In terms of what other things the government has not done well is the issue of employment and loans, I think a lot of Malawians including the youth wanted to see the 1 Million jobs but up to now, we dont even have a roadmap and we don’t even know how the youth are going to get employment. Including the issue of loans up to now people were told to collect forms but up to now we haven’t seen any person benefiting from the loans that were promised so these are some of things that Malawians are crying for and we would want the government to resolve these issues as soon as possible”,said Trapence.
Malawi Energy Regulatory Authority has hiked fuel price with 28 percent and this has angered many Malawians saying the prices are too much and it will cause so much harm to households, firms and the national economy.
